One notices immediately the care he takes in the tight packaging alone. The parcel (usually cardboard, sometimes paper) a minor work of art in itself, enhanced with beautiful Swedish stamps, his own unique rubber stamps (planes, jazz musicians, musical instruments, the KAMINI PRESS logo, etc.); the blue foreign label: PRIORITAIRE 1:a-klassbrev… All of it. Everything, a joy to behold. You’re almost afraid to open it, mess it up in any way. It’s so satisfying as it is.

Should I look to see what little beauty of a book he’s put together now? Wait till later…this afternoon? Maybe tonight…treat myself in the late hours? Save it for tomorrow…or the next time I need a particular lift, since I know whatever Kamini Press does will make my day, my night…make everything in my writing world worthwhile?

Like that time one night I opened a packet from Henry and held BIRD EFFORT by Ronald Baatz in my hand…read it once, twice…three times, four times, five times…God, how many times? Till I fell asleep with a warm feeling like good red wine in me, the poet’s words still murmuring in my mouth:

So much light so much darkness— the earth crying out like a clarinet left behind

O lord let me stay drunk somehow without all this drinking now and forever amen

Digging the canary’s grave she catches the reflection of lovely orange feathers in the spoon

The stars over the lake so old and brittle looking— I stop rowing, rest my back and think of how soft my ashes will be.

Henry Denander…a one-man band. A singular focus. A testament to just how good, conscientious, a little press publisher can be if he has the vision, passion, energy, direction to publish a book for someone that he, the publisher-writer, would want for himself. It all comes down to that. The secret to successful small press publishing not enough publishers grasp. Would I want my name on this book? Would I love the way it looks, feels? Would I be anxious to put it in the hands of friends and strangers with a bit of a glow on my face? Would it hold a reader’s attention cover to cover in design, content, form?

Instinct. Insight. Style. Aesthetics. Not to publish anybody or anything for whatever or no reason except to be considered a publisher…slap any old crappy art or photo on the cover that says nothing. Some books, poorly envisioned, you almost don’t want to touch, let alone open and try to read. Contrary to old beliefs, you can judge a book by its cover… especially a Kamini Press cover, usually graced by one of Henry’s throbbing little watercolors.

Once you finally invade the perfect packaging I described, once you find each book carefully wrapped and taped tightly in white paper, once you unfold the paper in your hands…and hold the little book (all of them about 4”x6”) it seems to come alive to one’s touch. And there you have it: from Henry in Sweden to wherever you are in the world…the book feels like a good handshake. Welcome. Thank you. How beautiful the cover. Now, what’s going on inside?

How to Make a Rainbow on a Rainy Day

Locate, in the overcast, some thread of involvement with backlit sheets of crayoned manila paper vacuum sealed to the yellow eyes of an elementary school. Open up the floodgates to the eccentricities of leaves; find an alcove, an unused entrance, to lean in, noting the widening concentric circles in standing water on pavements commissioned by raindrops. Take the coins out of your pocket and throw them, one at a time, into the fountains of Trevi made by the intersecting arcs of traffic and rainfall; permit silver spray to have its way with your face. Wonder at the beaded pearlescence at the sides of warm Styrofoam. Internalize windshield wipers and the lift of umbrellas. Without going overboard, initiate eye contact, return the wave.

72nd Birthday

Two Torch Singers (excerpt)

In high school, when I was discovering That music could be sexy, There were two torch singers (Besides Judy Garland, of course) Whose albums I played until the vinyl wore thin And the needles went blunt I don’t know whether I was more riveted By Julie London’s throaty rendition Of “Cry Me a River” Or by her incredible rocket-launcher, film-noir, Tightly sweatered bust on the album cover, Not to mention her wasp-cinctured waist. But she was too much woman for me, Even in my fantasies. Scary!

False Starts

The birds have already begun their morning song and I haven’t yet been to sleep the night a series of false starts, like the many journals I’ve kept over the years— one after another abandoned before anything was ever said.

Confession. I truly envy what Henry Denander is doing. This is the way I intended to go when I got into small press publishing back in 1995. Do the little book, the little work, and do it well. Make is beautiful to behold. Something to glow in the dark.

Then I reflected on all the new and old writers with bigger appetites seeking, needing pages and pages for larger works. Novelists, short story writers, poets with books of poems…essayists, experimental writers, artists, photographers. They needed to be honored as well. There was not enough attention paid them.

Lately, given all I’ve done so far, thirty-four books, given my present circumstances–age factor, health issues, financial circumstances, limited time to write my own stories and books–I see again the beauty and attraction of publishing the little gift, and may in time (“simplify, simplify…”) honor that first dream…find my way down that road of small, fluttering white pages, words enough to lift the spirit in short, deep breaths. –Norbert Blei

Finally winter is losing its grip— in my sleep I hear the pond’s spine cracking

10 responses

Receiving a package from Henry is always a joy. This New Year I was happy to find the annual New Year poem from Sheila Murphy and then a small package from Sweden. Tom Kryss’ book is a little gem. But then everything Henry produces is a gem.

I’m new to Henry’s mailing list–ordered Battle Scars, then got his New Year’s gift of Tom Kryss. Right–the envelopes alone are precious gifts and, for me, confirm that I haven’t been nuts when I put great rubber stamps and real postal stamps on the packages that go out from Bareass Press and Dromnavarna Press, my own tongue-in-cheek “publishing houses.” I hope to delight the receivers; my own huge grin–and yours–when getting packages from Henry–tell me that the exercise is indeed worthwhile.

I too, am lucky enough to be on Denander’s international mailing list, to be a recipient of his incredible generosity. I too, treasure every shred, every shard.
Keep the presses rolling, Henry, and tack sa myket!

Hello Norbert,
Henry Denander has begun sending me these beautiful chapbooks and I adore them, he sent me a link to you and I enjoyed reading your review of the chapbooks he makes. Thanks for sharing a poem from each collection, I had just ordered two more and was thrilled to see a poem featured from each one.
Sincerely,
Paula

Whether you are a writer or a publisher, this is the kind of review we all aspire to receive. If Blei’s review isn’t enough to push you to write Kamini Press and say “I want everything,” well, you might want to check your pulse – because chances are all you really need at this point is a handful of dirt to cover you over.

This is enough to jumpstart the heart of a dead man! Excellent review Norbert! Congrats Henry!

other Norbert Blei web pages

The coop has flown

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Norbert Blei | 1935 – 2013

On the back roads of Door County again

Norbert Blei – 2012

Photo by Bobbie Krinsky

Norbert Blei – 2012

Photo by Jeffrey Winke

Norbert Blei – 2011

Photo by Sharon Auberle

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